The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) yesterday placed a record-high of more than 1,500 people on a monitoring list in response to a recent confirmed case of German measles involving a China Airlines flight attendant.
“The female flight attendant lives in northern Taiwan and started experiencing fever, a runny nose, coughing and rashes on Saturday. On Wednesday it was confirmed she had German measles and she remains in quarantine,” CDC Deputy Director-General Chuang Jen-hsiang (莊人祥) said.
Chuang said the stewardess could have contracted rubella between Feb. 21 and Feb. 28, either in Vietnam, Indonesia or Hong Kong, categorizing her case as an imported one.
Rubella can be transmitted by airborne droplets seven days before and after symptoms develop. It has an incubation period of between 14 and 21 days.
The flight attendant worked on six flights during her infectious period, including Flight CI116 and Flight CI117 traveling between Taoyuan and Fukuoka on March 8, Flights CI110 and CI111 between Taoyuan and Fukuoka on March 10 and March 11, and Flights CI753 and CI754 traveling between Taoyuan and Singapore on Friday and Saturday last week, the centers said.
Chuang said a total of 686 Taiwanese who had contact with the flight attendant, including passengers, her colleagues, family and medical personnel and patients who were at the hospital where she sought treatment, have been asked to monitor their physical conditions until April 11.
“However, the centers have only managed to contact 72 of the potentially exposed individuals thus far. The rest are urged to call the centers’ disease prevention toll-free hotline 1922 or contact a local health bureau if they exhibit any symptoms of rubella,” Chuang said.
The agency said it had also notified the 11 countries where the 872 foreign passengers who were on board the six flights come from via the International Health Regulations (IHR) Focal Point.
According to CDC statistics, there have been two confirmed cases of German measles in Taiwan this year, including one imported case and one local case.
The centers urged the public not to panic as more than 95 percent of people in the nation have been vaccinated against rubella or have gained immunity from past infection.
Nevertheless, pregnant women should be vigilant, the agency said, because German measles can lead to stillborn deaths, miscarriages and birth defects, including hearing impairment, glaucoma, small head size and heart disease.
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫), spokeswoman Yang Chih-yu (楊智伃) and Legislator Hsieh Lung-chieh (謝龍介) would be summoned by police for questioning for leading an illegal assembly on Thursday evening last week, Minister of the Interior Liu Shyh-fang (劉世芳) said today. The three KMT officials led an assembly outside the Taipei City Prosecutors’ Office, a restricted area where public assembly is not allowed, protesting the questioning of several KMT staff and searches of KMT headquarters and offices in a recall petition forgery case. Chu, Yang and Hsieh are all suspected of contravening the Assembly and Parade Act (集會遊行法) by holding
PRAISE: Japanese visitor Takashi Kubota said the Taiwanese temple architecture images showcased in the AI Art Gallery were the most impressive displays he saw Taiwan does not have an official pavilion at the World Expo in Osaka, Japan, because of its diplomatic predicament, but the government-backed Tech World pavilion is drawing interest with its unique recreations of works by Taiwanese artists. The pavilion features an artificial intelligence (AI)-based art gallery showcasing works of famous Taiwanese artists from the Japanese colonial period using innovative technologies. Among its main simulated displays are Eastern gouache paintings by Chen Chin (陳進), Lin Yu-shan (林玉山) and Kuo Hsueh-hu (郭雪湖), who were the three young Taiwanese painters selected for the East Asian Painting exhibition in 1927. Gouache is a water-based
Taiwan would welcome the return of Honduras as a diplomatic ally if its next president decides to make such a move, Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) said yesterday. “Of course, we would welcome Honduras if they want to restore diplomatic ties with Taiwan after their elections,” Lin said at a meeting of the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee, when asked to comment on statements made by two of the three Honduran presidential candidates during the presidential campaign in the Central American country. Taiwan is paying close attention to the region as a whole in the wake of a
OFF-TARGET: More than 30,000 participants were expected to take part in the Games next month, but only 6,550 foreign and 19,400 Taiwanese athletes have registered Taipei city councilors yesterday blasted the organizers of next month’s World Masters Games over sudden timetable and venue changes, which they said have caused thousands of participants to back out of the international sporting event, among other organizational issues. They also cited visa delays and political interference by China as reasons many foreign athletes are requesting refunds for the event, to be held from May 17 to 30. Jointly organized by the Taipei and New Taipei City governments, the games have been rocked by numerous controversies since preparations began in 2020. Taipei City Councilor Lin Yen-feng (林延鳳) said yesterday that new measures by
RSS